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Volkswagen brand Bugatti has been duking it out with US brand Hennessey to see who wears the crown as the world's fastest production car. And the Americans may have just swiped it -- although the Guinness world records won't make it official.
Hennessey has just unleashed their Venom GT at the Kennedy Space Centre landing tarmac, and -- clocked by leading GPS data-acquisition system maker Racelogic -- hit a speed of 270.49mph (435.31km/h) with director of Miller Motorsport Park, Brian Smith, at the helm.
That trumps the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport's previous 269.86mph (434.30km/h) record, which has been sanctioned under Guinness rules. However, while there's been some argy-bargy about the Veyron in production form having a speed limiter -- while the record-setting car did not -- with its record being withdrawn and then reinstated, it seems Hennessey won't be officially handed the crown.
In order for the speed to be recognised by Guinness, they require a pass in each direction to counter any advantage from wind. John Hennessey has already told media that he would have been willing to do so, but that NASA -- who operate the Kennedy facility -- would allow only one.
And while the Bugatti Veyron is a special build by the Volkswagen Group halo brand, the Venom Gt is essentially built on a modified Lotus Exige chassis, and powered by a twin-turbocharged 7.0-litre V8 delivering 928kW of power at 6600rpm and 1566Nm of torque at 4400rpm to the rear wheels via a Ricardo six-speed manual transmission.
Watch the Hennessey Venom GT hit 435.31km/h video on our desktop site.
This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott
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